Google left facing new questions over Street View

Google is facing further investigation into claims that it covered up the fact its Street View cars ‘trampled on’ people’s privacy.

Google Street View has mapped towns and cities all around the world but has run into problems over privacy

The internet giant is accused of collecting millions of users’ emails, passwords, browsing histories and other sensitive information using software deliberately written by an engineer.Despite Google deleting all the data collected from unsecured wi-fi networks in Britain in 2010, the Information Commissioner’s Office has decided to reopen its investigation after a US watchdog revealed the engineer’s work.Nick Pickles, director of civil liberties campaigners Big Brother Watch, said: ‘The ICO is absolutely right to re-open the investigation and must now take every step to get to the bottom of just how many British people’s privacy was trampled on by Google.‘Breaching the Data Protection Act is a criminal offence and the law should be applied to Google in the same way as any other company or individual.’A Google spokesman said the company was happy to answer the ICO’s questions and that project users had ‘never even looked at’ the payload data which had been gathered.